{"id":837893,"date":"2026-10-17T14:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T18:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=837893"},"modified":"2026-10-30T20:21:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T00:21:24","slug":"tplf-warns-against-any-movement-at-mekelle-airport-getachew-reda-says-group-is-threatening-civilian-planes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/837893","title":{"rendered":"Statement attributed to TPLF warns against any movement at Mekelle airport"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/figure>\n

The terminal of Alula Aba Nega Airport in Mekelle, Tigray, in May 2008. (Photo: Simon Temple via Wikimedia Commons, public domain) [file photo]<\/em><\/p>\n

A statement attributed to the TPLF-led Tigray administration warned that no movement of any kind should take place at Mekelle's Alula Aba Nega airport, accusing the federal government of using it for troops and supplies.<\/p>\n

The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) had not confirmed or disowned the statement by Saturday morning ET. The warning was one of three in a statement issued on Friday, Tikimt 6, 2019 in the Ethiopian calendar, by the TPLF administration led by its chairman, Debretsion Gebremichael, BBC Amharic reported. The statement said the airport "has left civilian transport service" and that it "has been confirmed" the federal government is using it "to transport military personnel and logistics" in order to make up for roads closed to it by the forces of the "Alliance for Survival." "We therefore strictly warn that no movement of any kind take place at the airport," the statement said.<\/p>\n

Tigrayan forces took control of the airports in Mekelle, Shire and Aksum when fighting began three weeks ago, but the three airports came back under government control after federal forces and their ally, the armed group known as the Tigray Peace Force, captured the main towns, BBC Amharic said. Ethiopian Airlines resumed its regular flights to Mekelle last Sunday, after the airport came under federal control.<\/p>\n

In its second warning, the statement told structures at every level in the region not to cooperate with the trustee administration that the federal government set up to run Tigray for the next six months. The statement called that administration a "tool of invasion" meant "to complete the genocide policy started against the people of Tigray, with the support of bandas," a word Tigrayan officials use for collaborators. "All our people should know that any decision given in the name of 'trustee administration' at any level has no legality or enforceability," it said, adding that any institution working with the administration "will be seen as part of Prosperity and will bear responsibility."<\/p>\n

Addis Standard reported that the statement described the administration appointed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government as a "Prosperity structure" imposed on the region.<\/p>\n

The third warning restricted travel toward areas held by Tigrayan forces. In a translation of that section posted on X, Martin Plaut quoted the statement as saying that "information obtained directly from arrested traitors has confirmed that various traitors and bandits are using small vehicles (Bajaj, motorcycles, bicycles, and others)" to carry communications equipment into rural areas to spy. "Therefore, no one is permitted to use any vehicle to travel to areas where our forces are operating without authorization from the legitimate Tigray government administration and the Tigray forces," the statement said.<\/p>\n

Getachew Reda, the Prime Minister's adviser on East African affairs, condemned the statement on X. "The defunct TPLF leadership has officially admitted to having decided to resort to classic terrorist tactics in order to remind the people of Tigray that there was once such a thing as TPLF," he wrote. "They are telling us that they will shoot down civilian planes en route to Mekelle, among other heinous crimes it craves to commit. Yet another good reason why the people of Tigray are better off without these lunatics." An account posting as The Horn African Guy wrote that the statement warned Ethiopian Airlines could be considered a legitimate target if it kept supporting military activities, a line that does not appear in the BBC Amharic and Addis Standard accounts. Mereja Media could not independently verify it.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n